


Vemödalen

by Cass1deus



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: CannonxOc, F/M, Original Character(s), PenelopeXChico, oc x cannon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-10-15 20:57:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10557590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cass1deus/pseuds/Cass1deus
Summary: Vemodalen is the feeling of frustration of photographing something amazing when there are already thousands of other photos of it that exist.  Penelope begins to feel this when she realizes that she has more than even 20 photos of the mysterious red hooded thing.  She has been obsessing over him enough to plan on stalking him when It all started.  She finds this thing in one of her photos for her school project.  Most people would swear to themselves to never visit the forest again. Unfortunately, Penelope is not most people.





	1. Chapter 1

The raindrop was hanging onto the tip of the flower petal, indicating that it was on the verge of vanishing into the grass. This stressed Penelope, but when the camera was completely focused on the drop, she immediately tapped the button. The chirp from the camera has never felt so oddly relieving for her, even if the sound bothered her ears. She got out of her awkward crouching and stood up to continue exploring the forest.  
The peaceful scenery of the jade green pine trees over fed Penelope’s inspiration. The view helped clear her mind from the stresses of being a freshmen student in college. It has been a long time since she went hiking and she was happy that her first project was to take photos of her favorite thing called Mother Nature. One of the reasons why she was so attached to the outdoors was because she grew up surrounded by trees. To be more specific, there seemed to be more forests in her backyard. Beautiful forests and the outside world itself has played a large role into her childhood.  
When Penelope’s uncle gave her books about alien’s, fairy tales, undiscovered creatures, and other similar paranormal things, she would be convinced of their existence and play outside almost every day just to find bigfoot or some other sort of legendary creature. Back in Australia, she had strange memories of trying to glue sticks together into triangular shapes whenever her friends came over. She her creations a generic and corny nickname that went along the lines of ‘alien catchers’ which led to them being thrown like boomerangs at the trunks of the trees. Eventually, Penelope’s strange passion for all of these things made her want to turn it into a career.  
When both her and her friends got older, her obsession became unsettling to them. The fact that she potentially believed in UMA’s and other odd fairy tales was weird enough to be a red flag for them. They thought it was almost like Penelope was still the same quirky 8 year old who could never grow up and act a bit more mature. In fear of losing the friends she had, in both Australia and America, she would try to avoid the topic whenever she was around them. Her friends still cared for her, as far as Penelope knew. They seemed not mind her presence. She was considered the awkward one out of the group, but she was very talkative and never got bored. She managed to light up the mood with her sort of energetic attitude. Adapting with the girls was easy for her since she enjoyed the same stuff that most girls typically loved. She still dresses in soft pastel colors such as pink along with wearing cute headbands. Thankfully, this made it less obvious that alien hunting was her favorite thing to do. Even if her friends were occasionally pains in the asses, she really did miss them, but one thing she liked about being away from home was that she could easily go back into studying the same mythical stuff without them feeling embarrassed for her.  
Her hobby had never fully left all these years, but she managed to keep it to herself. Though fitting in was not really hard for her, she truly wished that she had a friend to talk about her hobbies with. Her uncle and some of her other family members sparked the same interests as her, and were literally the same people who exposed her to these popular myths and theories. Sadly, most of these family members were no longer around enough to really talk to. This peaceful feeling quickly ended the second Penelope heard a mush sound that came from her last step. Her boots were designed for hiking and should have been okay to use on wet grounds. Ironically, she could feel a tiny bit of cold water inside her own boot. The boots were only 3 years old but according to the box they are supposedly meant to last two more years, from what she remembered.  
Penelope’s face scrunched up in frustration. She kept thinking to herself that maybe she could find some way to avoid her socks getting soaked from her boots in the future.  
‘Maybe I could patch duct tape near the area that the damn hole is located in. Is duct tape strong enough to do so? If it gets wet, would it fall off?’  
As she was walking back, she thought of more strange ideas that probably would not work, but the positive thinking made her less pissed off than she would have been if she did not. She paused at least two different times to shoot some extra photos.  
‘The more photos take to study in my dorm, the more options I have.’  
Before she was about to pause for a third quick shoot, she heard footsteps that did not seem to be too far away from where she stood. She was getting curious about who could have been present with her, but she was not in the mood to chat with anyone especially if they were planning on doing horrible things to her. She rushed back to her car in high hopes that the person did not hear her.  
With every other light in the dorm being off, the entire room was barely visible. Thanks to the reflection of the book light, it was not hard to find some outlines of furniture. The glowing white light beamed at the papers and photos on Penelope’s desk. The brightness of the paper burned her eyes, almost like they were melting. She knew it was rather unhealthy, but instead, she would convince herself that it would keep her awake longer so she could continue to finish her work.  
‘Besides, I already wear glasses,’ she thought to herself.  
No matter how much she needed rest, she was still willing to get her work over and done with.  
Some of the photos from her tiny pile were annoyingly blurry. There were at least some photos that were appealing enough for both her and her teacher. Penelope wondered who was more strict about photos qualities. Could it be the entire college itself? Or Is Penelope becoming more of a professional not just by learning, but also because she is in college? Not many go to college and she is more than a little aware of how serious college truly is.  
After what seemed like forever with writing down a description of the photo, she decided to move on and examine another photo from the pile of other photos. She could feel her eyelids getting heavier by the minute. Adjusting her circular shaped glasses, she came back down to earth and randomly picked a photo up. She had to glance at the photo a second time to see how out of place the photo seriously was.  
A fairly dismaying figure appeared in the background of the flowers. The figure appeared to be a shape of a man in strong red colored apparel. She assumed that this was some sort of medieval hood. The man seemed to be facing away from the camera. There was a large white peace sign on what could be the upper part of the figures back. The peace sign appeared to be made with some sort of paint, which could have been the reason why it looked like it was fading away. It could be safe to assume that the figure was just as unaware as she was that he was in the photo.

Penelope wondered if that was the same person who scared her away in the forest. The photo was unsettling, but It was possible that the man was some sort of hippie who was just minding his own business. Even with that assumption, Penelope’s mind was aching with questions and this gave her the same odd adventurous mood that she has never been in for god knows how long. She recognized this mood was the same feeling she had as a child and this would not go away until what she wanted to do was done.  
Penelope sat up from her chair and made a wild, geeky smile without realizing it since she was already contemplating in her head. Weather the man would ever appear again or not, she felt the need to go back to the forest. It wasn’t like many people visited the place anyway, and even if someone was there, they probably didn't work at her college. The idea of taking a break from being an adult only to feel that childhood thrill was a ridiculous idea to most people, but again, Penelope was not most people.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Penelope And The man begin to talk, and bizarre things happen to the poor girl.

Shutting the door of her car, she took off the lens cover of her camera.  
The shades of green darkened as she walked further into the woods. Excitement quickly turned to Anxiety as the atmosphere felt a bit more menacing. Her inner child pushed her to go forward instead of leaving, even if her life was at risk of an animal that would probably attack her. She was unsure of what kind of animals were in the area, and the thought of being torn apart by a bear did not help her nerves, but she continued to walk further.  
The ground was much dryer than yesterday. Since her mind was so fixated on catching the man in red apparel, accidentally stepping in dog shit probably would not distract her the way it usually would.  
The silence of the forest was something she was not entirely used to. It was peaceful to her, but she developed mixed feelings about being a bit farther from human civilization. The silence made her wonder what could be happening to everyone back at her college. Her wild imagination produced ideas like UFO’s shooting lasers at a variety of different buildings. She felt sick and hopeless at the idea of being the last person on Earth.  
After what seemed like a long time of thinking to herself, Penelope heard a sound that she could not entirely identify. Almost sounding like a gunshot, this caused her to run in the opposite direction without thinking. Running out of breath, she stopped for a second, hoping that whoever made that noise did not hear her. She looked around, trying to catch her breath. It did not take her long to realize that she was not in a recognizable part The forest. Almost all of the trees looked alike, but she still concluded that she was lost. She grew frustrated for not paying attention to where she was going.  
‘Why did I not fucking pay attention to where I was going? How did I screw up this badly?’  
Penelope wanted to bang her head against the tree till her skull cracked open. She has never felt so hopeless in her entire life. She has never faced situations this badly. She was too scared to even continue walking. She wondered if she would end up accidentally going even further into the forest if she continued walking. She might as well sit where she was and drink out of her plastic bottle like a depressed homeless man, chugging a bottle of vodka or something. The water from her bottle tasted and felt warm. It did not take long for her to finally get a hold of herself. Penelope let out a laugh at how over dramatic she was being. The complete silence bored her enough to fixate her mind on what was in her bag.  
Digging through the gum wrappers, passing her hand away from the koala toy that a cousin gave her before leaving college, she pulled out a red marker. Never has she ever expected a cheap red marker to become her new holy lord and savior.  
She sat up and dotted the tree that she was leaning against. She continued to do the same thing to a few other trees that she came across. Fear didn’t entirely leave her, but she was desperate enough to find her car before she panics and overreacts a second time.  
Not expecting to become any more skittish than she has already been, She saw a red figure come out of a rather darker shaded area, from a distance. Penelope adjusted her glasses and hoped that the water that she drank was only passed its expiration date. Weather she was Hallucinating or not, She was feeling excited enough to feel the need to jump up and down like a really hyper and wild kid. She would keep her distance from him, but would continue to mark a few trees and quietly follow the hooded man.  
Penelope began to study the appearance of the hooded man. Even though, the white peace sign was the only thing that was staring back at her, something about his walking cycle sort of convinced her that he was still a human. She turned back on her camera to take about 3 shots. The first new thing that she noticed about the man was the dark pouch that he carried on his back. It seemed like it was meant to hold a long weapon.  
The man quickly stopped. Penelope wanted to move out of the hooded man’s sight but everything happened so quickly to her. His arm slowly twisted away from his body to expose the giant black blade that he held in his hand.  
Penelope began to freeze up as the man turned to face her. Under the hood exposed a pair of eyes that shot a look into her own. Penelope always hated looking at someone in the eyes. It was not that she didn’t admire eyes, but whenever she has ever caught herself looking at another stranger in the eyes, it almost felt so painful to her. When it was not a relative of hers and a complete stranger, she would break into tears. Oddly, she felt the pain would worsen if she bothered looking away from the man. This could be due to the fact that he is holding a weapon and he is the only person with her. She wondered how this man seemed to be looking directly into her hazel eyes that were hidden by fairly foggy glasses. She could see a bit of stress in the man’s eyes, but could not read his intentions. Becoming too paralyzed to even twitch, her face began to burn up in the guilt that she felt for him. How could she be so cruel to just stalk him all because he looked a bit different? This man was probably minding his own business and now she probably looks like the real monster to him.

Before Penelope could shed a tear, He raised his arm to slide his Machete back into his slouch, concluding that Penelope was not a threat; at least to her. He still appeared rather cautious, which would have made enough sense to her.  
"H-hey, It’s not a good idea to be here today.” Through his low scratchy voice with an accent, he seemed to be trying to come up with words to say. His nervous chuckle definitely did not power the serious situation that he was going through, as a repetitive shooting sound caused him to jump to Penelope. She lacked the attention to realize that he wanted her to duck. As reality came back to her, she felt the black gloved hands of the man covering her. This was to keep her screams from being heard. He had a strong enough grip on her, which made her too scared to even flinch.  
Penelope wanted to scream until her throat began to hurt, but she was aware that the man would possibly slit her throat with one of the god knows how many weapons that he carries. Both of them laid on the cold dirt, in the shades. The only thing that she could do was stare up at the spot that they both stood At earlier. She had no idea if the man was trying to keep her safe, but with other mysterious people that he clearly had issues with, one of them or even none of them were the good guy.  
A pair of dark boots were seen walking past the area where the hooded man and Penelope were before. Penelope noticed the dark grey camouflage on the person with the boots. A static sound grew fairly loud. The voice of a male spoke to the person in an unfamiliar language. She tried making out some of foreign words, but she couldn't understand jack shit. Their conversation through the radio continued as the person disappeared into the forest.  
When it almost felt like the two were more isolated, the Hooded man loosened his grip on Penelope and sat up.  
“I think we are safe for now. Please forgive me for alarming you.” He stood, staring down at her. “I promise you that you won't be involved with this situation any longer.”  
As curious as Penelope was, she needed to go back to her college grounds. She wondered if she should try to help the man. He was polite enough to save her and keep her away from whatever is happening.  
“I-I'm not sure what's happening here, but i'm honestly very lost. I parked my car on the edge of the road.” She looked up to see his face. Even Though, his hood shadowed most of his face, she could see red scars on some of his skin. From what she could see, parts of his skin almost matched the color of his large blade. The rest of the areas were a light skin color. The mans mouth was covered by parts of the red cloth, making her scared of why he hid that part of his face. Other than the white wires that ended where his ears would have possibly been. The man was overall scary, but almost reminded her of a really cool comic book character. She still felt a bit more nervous around him.  
“Do you know where the road is?”  
The man seemed to hesitate as he thought to himself. Penelope guessed that he might assume that she would secretly be working for whoever the group were.  
“Only if those men come back, I'll be by your side until you find your car. They might still be in this forest.”  
Penelope already put enough trust in him to even bother thinking twice about doubting him. And knowing that there were no warnings in her classes about a military group coming today, she knew that whoever this group was, they were most likely enemies of the country.  
Side by Side, Penelope still followed the man. She wondered how old the man was.  
“Who are they? Why are they tracking you down in South Carolina?”  
“I'm not expecting you to believe me, but since you witnessed one of them attacking me in the first place, I don’t expect you to be surprised with what i'll say, either. They are Soldiers from a thing called the XOF unit. Many of their soldiers are currently in Central Africa. Others were sent here to recapture me for the second time. Even after 9 years of being experimented on, they supposedly have some use for me. They really don't like peace.”  
“9 years of experimenting? AH! I never thanked you for saving me earlier.”  
Chico grew a bit puzzled. He couldn't tell if she was purposely changing the subject or just thanking him so she wont forget to later. “It’s no problem. I have seen other innocent people die at the hands of those bastardos for just being there. I couldn’t stand it.” His fists clenched in his folded arms, almost like he was going to rip off his flesh. Penelope was scared of him going ballistic, so she tried to think of what to say to him.  
“Hey, I never got your name. I mean, it's okay if you don't want to tell me your full name, but… what would you like me to call you?”  
“Well, I used to be called Chico… But I think it's fair to say that I am too old for that name now…”  
“I think it sounds cute. I like the ring of that. Doesn't that mean ‘boy’? Sorry I never had the chance to learn Spanish as a kid.” He let out a quiet giggle. It was almost like that was the first thing that he laughed at in a while.  
“Si! Or rather...yes... Same thing. I come from Nicaragua, so it is my first language. Actually, I don't talk in Spanish as much as I used to…I guess you can still call me Chico.” Penelope Smiled a bit at his more cheery tone. It was kind of cute to her. Chico looked away from her, feeling weird by his own reaction. He was not in the mood to think about what he went through. If he was still 12, he would break down and cry at knowing what happened to him and Paz. He should be used to the excruciating feeling of hot steel that sliced up the bottom of his heart. But even if it was just a feeling, he tried thinking of something else to numb the pain.  
"That's cool. I hope i can go to one of those countries, someday. I was born in the Outback of Australia. I'm not sure how noticeable my accent is." “I would visit Australia too if I had the opportunity. I wonder what its like. So, what do you want me to call you?”  
“My name is Penelope.” The name itself kinda soothed his soul a bit. Something about the way it sounded to Chico. It fit very well with her sorta innocent and quirky appearance.  
“Penelope. I like that name. So, Penelope, what brings you to the forest? If You don't mind me asking?”  
Penelope looked down, cringing at the real reason why she was there.   
“Well, there are two reasons, sort of. I love photography and...This might be weird, coming from a girl, but I have always took an interest to-”  
Penelope was distracted by the white-orange glow that the tree’s hid. Her jaw dropped, immediately knowing that her car was being used at campfire; while the men surrounding the car were partying. She fell on her knees, whimpering. Chico didn't know how he could comfort her. They both just watched as the men treated her vehicle as some fun little stress reliever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I honestly tried making this a bit more action-packed. Ya know, to not make it all about romance and shit. 
> 
> Seriously though, please comment your ideas on how i can make this better, criticism really helps me! XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After waking up from a nightmare, Chico walks off not too far to puff on his cigar or something. More happens, but I did this for a really stupid meme XD
> 
> *inhales cigar* *puffs cigar* *exhales cigar*
> 
>  
> 
> *DEEP THROATS CIGAR*

A not so bright red light illuminated the shapes of the pipes on the ceiling. This was the first thing that Chico had seen. He froze up the moment he heard church organs and a piano. Once he identified the tune, he cringed as the woman sung.  
“Here's to you Nicola and Bart.  
Rest forever here in our hearts.   
The last and final moment is yours.   
That agony is your triumph.”

As the singer continued to repeat the lyrics, the music intensified as more instruments and more singers joined in. The wailing and cries of a female voice echoed. He could not fight his own curiosity, so he stopped trying to focus on the pipes. At the corner of Chicos eye, there was a silhouette of a girl. The girls wrists were bound in chains. Three or more men were surrounding her. They didn't seem to be attacking her. They did absolutely nothing but stayed where they were, hands tied behind their back. Chico felt like her screams would never end until everything suddenly went dead quiet. The music paused and the girl seemed to just hold back her cries instead. The crimson light died out and all Chico could see was black. Confusion and fear overwhelmed him.

A faint and unsettling giggle entered the silence. The same female started to hum a chilling tune. She seemed to be making up a song of her own, but the patterns would continue to change.

The light flickered back on. Instead, it seemed like they were inside of a tent. The grassless dirt stained the bottom of the tan sheets. The only person with him was the girl, who stood in the center of the tent. The youthful, bruised face that stared back at Him made his jaw drop like he was about to say something. He reached his arm out to Paz, like he was trying to say something, but he continued to tremble when he couldn't think of what to say. He would instead call her name, but all the poor girl did was tilt her head. Her pale pink lips moved from each side of her face as she looked back at him. 

Chico felt like someone was strangling him. He was gagging, trying to imply that he needed her help as Paz did nothing but stood there.   
“Coward.”

 

*~*~*  
Chico gasp and arch his back foreword. As he panted, he felt a cold sweat or two dripped from his forehead. He grew used to his own rude awakenings because he felt that he truly deserved these nightmares. But just to get through the day, he would push his self loathing and other negative thoughts away by lying to himself. 

‘She is not dead. She is not.’

He closed his eyes for a moment. He tried to picture Paz doing whatever sort of innocent activity that he could think of. He imagined her legs dangling on the edge of mother base. Despite the fact that she could be somewhere safer, she would proceed to hum to herself as she stared at the sunset. Instead of dirty bruises all over her body, she would be clean and unharmed. Her yellow-curly hair would have grown, overtime. Chico wondered if Paz would remember what happened at camp omega. If seeing him would bring back those traumatizing moments, he would rather stay out of her sight. As long as she was safe and happy, than he would also be just as happy. 

Chico examined his surroundings. The millions of patterned tree trunks, skinny and thick, reminded Chico of how confused and scared Penelope must have felt before seeing him. To his right, he saw that the ginger girl was laying down next to him. She has her hands resting on her stomach, almost like she was originally clenching her upper arms until she lost all the strength to do so. The sound of the leaves, clashing together, grew loud enough for Chico to realize how much the temperature dropped from yesterday. He looked back down to see that Penelope was dressed in much lighter clothes than he was. The warmest thing that she has an elbow-sleeved sky blue sweater. A picture of a cartoon koala was printed on her pink shirt that almost matched the color of her skirt. Chico hasn't seen girls wear this much pink before, so it was kinda funny to him. 

‘She must have been freezing,’ he thought to himself.

He got up to remove most of the apparel that covered his body and his face. Dropping most of his weapons without making much of a sound. He was glad that the scars on his body were still mostly covered up. His black gloves extended all the way to his rolled up red sleeves and his robe-length buttoned up thing, that he simply called a shirt, matched the sleeve color. Dirty brown boots and dark pants, that were almost torn, also hid his two healing achilles tendon wounds. He adapted to the feeling of every muscle ,that he couldn't name, being ripped apart whenever he walked. He was still more than willing to walk through the world's hottest desert in his clothes. 

He has learned, or rather forced himself to accept these issues, but he still can't stand the sight of his own severely scarred face. He finds his ‘ugly’ face so disturbing that he would shut his eyes tight if he was forced to look into a mirror. He still cannot remember his face before the explosion. He was still unsure if it was the explosion itself that ruined him permanently. 

Chico picked up his cloak and turned to Penelope. 

‘Penelope hasn't seen me yet. She must be too scared to find out.’ 

Chico barely knew the poor little girl. He can see the exhaustion from her own stress was the only thing that kept her asleep. She must have been freezing. 

His eyes began to fixate on her face. He was first distracted by her red-circular glasses. The lenses were huge and foggy enough to completely cover her eyes. He grew curious of what hid behind the glasses.   
Her pale chubby face, decorated with thousands of freckles, reminded Chico of a cute and innocent child. Chicos face grew warm and smiled, despite the pain he felt when using his facial muscles to do so. He still managed to hide the urge to bend down and pinch her cheeks like his mom used to. 

Remembering how annoyed he would get when people called him cute, he wondered if Penelope would grow just as upset as he would. She probably hid her eyes just so that way people would go up to her and go on and on about her face. Well at least she doesn't have his face. 

‘Her glasses must come in handy whenever she's with the type of people who would purposely pinch them. she might switch her face with mine to scare them away.’ He almost chuckled to himself until he felt weird for watching her and having these thoughts. 

He proceeded to wrap his cloak on Penelope like a blanket. His cloaks length could easily cover her entire body because of how petite she was. He began to feel ashamed for thinking that she was cute.

‘I'm only trying to be a gentlemen, nothing more, nothing less. My heart only belongs to Paz. She is a young girl who should date someone better.’ 

He chanted in his head as he picked up his machete and walked away from her. He took one last peek behind him to see that she hasn't moved once. He tried not walking too far, but he eventually found an area where there were less tree branches to examine the beautiful skies. 

He sighed as he leaned against the tree. Placing his blood-stained machete aside from him while crossing his legs. He pulled out an unused cigar and his almost empty lighter from his pockets. The remnants of his lips still managed to grip onto the cigar. Inhaling the tastes of the urbs that he was not interested in knowing was a real bitch for him. This was obviously due to his teeth that were exposed on the left side of his disfigured face. To anyone who would have so happened to like his face, It probably looked badass to many when the smoke was coming out through his teeth. If the smoke even was noticeable, it was not going to make him hate himself any less and it would be the other way around.

He wondered if Snake felt this way about himself as well. This must have been what he was talking about when he said that real heros are not as polished as the legends claim they are. As a naive boy, he always hoped that he would become a hero. He looked up to snake so much, that be began acting like what he thought an adult was supposed to be. He would get so mad when people called him a kid, only because he felt very underestimated. As a 21 year old man, he could now admit that he actually was a child. A stupid child in his eyes. And after failing to save the girl he fell in love with, he sure as hell never thought of himself as a hero.

The pale yellow sun was admiring, but he chose to close his eyes as the wind blew the grey smoke in his eyes. He took his cigar out and continued to exhale until he squeezed all the air out of his lungs. Penelope randomly popped back in his head again. There was something about the shape of her lips that made his heart feel sore from the increase in his heart rate. Disgusted, he quickly stuck his cigar back into his mouth to forget about what he was thinking.

 

*~*~*  
His eyelids opened to see that he was somewhere else. His cigar was gone, so all he could smell was the dark and grassless soil that he sat on. He was staring down at his bare arms and feet. His skin was was dirtied and bruised, instead of ash grey paint that hid most of his burnt scars. He had a cassette tape in his left hand with a wire that attached to both of his ears. Right away, depression crawled back as he realized that he was in Cuba, trapped in his cage. 

In the cage next to him, he looked to see a person in the same orange uniform that he was wearing. She was lying down, facing away from him. He could tell that she was feeling too weak by how uncomfortable her shoulder positions appeared to be. Feeling quite desperate to talk to someone, and assuming that she was awake, he wanted to start up a conversation to light up the mood.   
“Paz…”  
“Hm?”  
“You’re back early today.”   
“Early…”  
Paz turned her head a bit, which made him flinch. He licked his lips and looked away, using the beautiful glowing orb in the sky to continue the conversation.   
“The Sun is still up.”  
“Si.”  
“Y-Yeah.” It was weird to him that he didn’t say ‘si’, but he said it in English to warn her that the guards don't like it when it they don't. would almost wanted to curl up in a ball as he thought about what the guards did to the previous prisoners.   
“Chico.”  
“Yes?”  
“Let us not do this, okay?”  
“Huh?” he shot back a look at her. The other men were still allowed to talk to each other from time to time. There shouldn't be a problem if they did, or at least that is what he thought.  
Paz laid her head back down.  
“I do not think I want to talk to you.”  
“But… I came here to..”  
“Just be quiet.”  
“Uh…”  
He looked down at the dirt, feeling even more unappreciated. To make himself feel better, he wondered if using her voice just hurt her, or if she was just so tired, that she just wanted to rest. She did seem to be struggling to speak.   
“Or I’ll Scream.”  
“What the…I don’t get it…”  
A mix of boiling anger and extreme confusion made him clench the cassette tape in his hands. Screaming would catch the guards attention and they would instantly come and beat the both of them, including himself for not stopping her. ‘What the hell has gotten into her? Was she always like this?’ He thought to himself. She was a spy, after all.

 

*~*~*  
The last thing that Penelope could remember was her strong urge to kick around in frustration. The fact that she did not think of taking a picture of what she saw. 

“Fucking assholes setting my property on fire.” She remembered mumbling as Chico patted her back, not really knowing what else to do. 

It could have been useful evidence to get this ‘XOF unit’ into even more trouble. She had much more stress that already felt impossible for her to control. Every single image in her head that she fantasized to happen in the future began crumbling like a cookie. To think that she ruined her own life over what her friends considered ‘childish entertainment’ made her more ashamed of herself. 

 

She was more than a little certain that she would never be able to sleep again. She would look at the few stars that floated in the deep blue sky, whimpering silently. She was surprised that Chico didn't yell at her to shut up, but she didn't know what kind of person she was in the first place. 

As time passed, she lost all the strength she had to stay awake and quietly whimper. Relaxing every muscle that she could move almost felt like she was inhaling anesthesia. 

The soil that her face lay on was the only thing she could smell until she picked up something familiar. The first thing that came to her head was warm and relaxing campfire, but the flaming wood smell was not there. This smell reminded her of her uncle who always reeked of the cigars that he smoked.   
Weather the scent came from cigarettes or not, Penelope knew that it was the right thing to get up and find the source of it. She sat up but stopped once she noticed the tattered red cloth that covered her entire frame. Her face grew red, hoping that Chico was not purposely making a move on her. He must have been trying to be a gentlemen at most. Even after concluding to this, the back of her head was making her assume otherwise.   
Penelope looked to her right to see that Chico was gone. She immediately stood up and examined every direction in her sight. Other than the same old trees, she grew confused when spotting a variety of different weapons and even the brown belts that he wrapped around his arms all on the ground. As anxious as she grew, she knew that even if he intended to abandon her, there would be no way that he would actually leave his weapons, especially hood, or whatever type of apparel he called it behind.   
‘Are these weapons for me?’  
She picked up her bag and adjusted her glasses. She picked up the hatchet, not thinking much about which weapon was better. Not far from where she slept, She saw what looked like the form of an elbow and the back of a head, staring at the horizon of the morning sky. as she got closer, the strong scent made her feel sick. She covered her nose and mouth with part of Chico’s cloth. For someone who smokes, and possibly hasn't taken a shower in a while, his clothes really didn’t smell that bad. It didn't smell like it just came out of the laundry, but the scent reminded her of the inside of her jewelry box she. She first got it. He probably wears a bunch of layers, but she could still sleep in it all night, even though, she possibly just did. She began to feel even more like a creep for smelling his own clothes.  
‘What is wrong with me? I don't remember being this fucked up. I need to stop being this way to poor Chico, he clearly goes through enough in his life.’  
Since Penelope was so relieved, it had never hit her that she was about to see what chico looked like under his apparel. Sadly, what she was about to see would fill her with the most sense of shock, fear and impending sympathy that she has ever experienced combined.   
Chico’s face left her rather speechless. The most noticeable part of his face was how exposed his teeth were on the right. It was almost like someone ripped off or even burnt off the missing chunk of flesh. It made her wonder how he can even eat or still be alive. Since Most of his face was an ashy grey, His face had to be damaged by a fire or maybe an explosion. No matter how uncomfortable she felt, she knew It was wrong to run away. As unsettling as he appeared, honestly, It was not that she found him ugly, he still looked kind of cool to her. Penelope is still more than willing to talk to the world's most spookiest ghost if she wanted to. But the scars that he had were something that many don't see every day, especially her. Explaining how he damaged his face this severely must have been completely inexplicable for him. Now that she had a better understanding of this poor man, she felt even more guilty for stalking him yesterday.  
Chico quickly covered his mouth while removing his cigar.  
“I didn't expect you to get up so early. Sorry that you had to see this…”  
He looked away from Penelope. Shame crept on his face, knowing that Penelope knows what he looks like. He wondered why she never ran away. She did not want her to feel bad for him either, but she would still do so.  
“It's...what happened to you? Or do you not want to tal-”. She stopped herself as she didn't want to bring up traumatic memories.  
“Well…Let's just say that I was...Gullible.” His voice started to break up.   
Images of Paz jumping out of the chopper flashed in his head. He used all the strength he had not to tremble in front of Penelope. He barely knew her, therefore, she did not need to know the horrific things that would still keep him up at night. 

“Oh…I'm deeply sorry that you have those woun- I mean scars!...I know a thing or two about being gullible.” Penelope’s outback Aussie accent, that was slowly fading, began to sound thicker in her voice. She put her hands behind her back as she couldn't think of what else to say. 

“There’s nothing to apologize about, I was the one who removed my cloak.” His eyes moved down to an object in her hand, Making him barley point his finger to it. “I can see that you are holding my hatchet.” 

“Oh!! Sh-...I-I'm sorry! I just got scared and…ya know.”

“It's okay. It's okay. You were smart to take it with you.” He slightly chuckled at how easily she panicked. He wanted to continue to smoke, but instead, He dropped his cigar on the cold dirt and stomped on it to get rid of the flame. He realized that the cigar was probably still reusable, but he had no idea how to save it.  
His head moved back up, green eyes pointing at the girl. Awkwardly waiting for her to say something.   
Something about his face made Penelope’s cheeks feel warmer than usual. Instead, she assumed it was his cloak that was causing the temperature to increase.  
“Chico. You don't have to hide your face from me anymore if you don't want to.” She took the cloak off her shoulders and folded it in a sloppy manner, but neither of them cared.  
“Y-you don't...don-don’t have to hide your face. I can see why you took it off earlier.” She palmed her face, embarrassed. She realized that her urge to run around in circles like a child is because she hasn't taken her medicine since the other day. Now that her medicine was somewhere around her bed, she worried that she would make an ass out of herself throughout this entire adventure. She wondered if she should bother warning him. She continued to look down, afraid of upsetting him or having him give her a bad name.  
“Well… thanks. If my face does start to bother you, don't be afraid of telling me.” He was definitely a bit puzzled. ‘Was she really okay with seeing my face or not?’   
“I know that this is terrifying to you. It is for me as well. But until we reach someone who isn't an XOF member, things are going to be...different. It's going to be difficult to prepare for these kind of things, even being ready to die.”  
Penelope shook up, she hated deep subjects associating with death. She felt rude interrupting him by holding out his sloppily folded cloak, but he still it. He continued as he was putting it on.  
“But your risk of being killed is low, weather you trust me or not. Because I'm not going to let any more people die at the hands of violent people like them.” He motioned his hand for her to follow him back to the spot that they were resting at. She was more than thankful that he was going to protect her, but she began to feel guilt. What was she going to do? She had to be somewhat useful to him as he was going through all of this trouble to protect her life.  
“Chico, I absolutely appreciate that you are trying to help me survive. I really am. But there has to be something I can do in return. I know that I'm not physically sk-ski…Skilled at combat or… other methods of of defense. But maybe…” her walking pace quickened, stopping a bit once she was right next to Chico.  
“I think I can teach you some basic things, in case something happened to me. I only have 5 different weapons. Let's see which one you feel most adjusted to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit this one is long-- I'm still proud of most of it tbh XD
> 
> Plz comment and give me some critique my dudes!!!


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically they learn more about one another :0

The pink pillow, still smelling nice after it's last wash, was now mildly soaked from Penelope's tears.  The poor girls lungs begged for more air, but she had her face remain Buried in the comfy pillow.

Her whimpering was the only thing that could be heard until the sound of the doorknobs twisting shut her up.  She recognized the tapping sound of each slow step belonged to her mother's high heals.  Penelope felt weight ,heavier than hers, right next to her.  She felt her mothers hand rest on her back.  Her hand would gently rub in a circular motion, almost feeling like a massage. This was as a slight attempt to comfort the child.

"Hey, Penelope. There is no shame in having Autism. You proved to you're father and I that you are fine!"

The 8 year old girl lifted her head and looked at her mother with a disgusted expression. 

"If I'm so normal, than why do I suddenly have it? Why didn't you tell me? Everyone knew that I was stupid this whole time and and!"

"Darling, Autism never effects your intelligence. Your brain is just wired differently. It's not easy to understand basic things, sometimes. But, your teachers were surprised by how you got the answer to the things that were meant to be harder. Did you know that your grandparents were absolute geniuses? They weren't autistic... but your grandad... special case. You would be supprised to see how many successful people have these things."

 

~*~*~  
Looking back at it now, Penelope was unsure of how correct her mothers last statement was.  

Reality struck her hard the same way Chico's hatchet struck the bark of the tree. The sight of green colors in the grass, the trees and the other plants distracted her so much that she didn't pay any attention to what Chico was describing. For this, she felt like an asshole. 

"Using this weapon can feel more simple, but I like to use this for whenever I caught an animal and I need to chop it up or skin it. That description was disturbing. But knowing that, this is why I feel like this weapon has more of an effect on the enemies that I encounter. Would you like to try using the hatchet?"

He gave her the hatchet. As Penelope examined it in her hands, she noticed how splintery the handle was. Splinters alone was another pet peeve of hers. More unpleasant memories of getting them on her fingers would instantly lead to rejecting the hatchet. 

"No-no thanks. How about one of your knives?"

Chico raised a brow at her, wondering what the reasoning of her response was supposed to be.

"Not trying to sound impolite, but why not?"

"I know this sounds very picky, but I... don't want to get any splinters."

"Splinters are uncomfortable to have stuck in your fingers, but a splinter is nothing once you compare it to a person who intends to jam their own weapon into your chest. You need to remember, Penelope,"

He moved behind her, separating her hands and raising her left one as that was the hand in which she held the hatchet.

"We are talking about survival. A splinter is rather harmless in these type of situations."

Penelope's heart felt more fragile as he was so close to her, she could almost feel his chest and waist unintentionally press against her upper back. She was used to being petite and naturally weaker than other people, but his grip on her made her question what he was capable of doing. She could tell that he was trying to be gentle as he used his knowledge to position her correctly. 

Her heart began to tingle and her cheeks darkened to a redder shade. What was left of the cigar scent was pretty easy to detect.

They both knew that aiming and throwing a hatchet wasn't much of a complicated task. Penelope began to feel very underestimated.

"Are you ready, Penelope?" He said. His warm breath at the back of Penelope's neck sent a shiver down the poor girls spine. Chico was unaware of how uncomfortable he made her. If she was confident enough, she would collapse onto him, without making him actually fall over. Before she could drift off in imagination land, she knew she had to respond.

"Yes!"

"Now!"

Trying not to hesitate, Penelope Swung the hatchet away from her with a lot of force, letting it fly out of her hand. And as she watched, the hatchets blade cut into the tree. The cut was not deep enough, however, to stay into the tree. It slowly fell on the ground. 

"Not bad. I knew you could do it! I suggest that you try to stay at a closer range to throw. If not, try using more force if you choose to stay farther."

And with that, Penelope gained back some more self esteem. She smiles a bit to herself at that moment.

This is how most of their morning was spent: to train Penelope on using weapons. Chico was a bit impressed. After all of it, Penelope grew most attached to the hatchet, looking past the risk of splinters.

"You learn very quickly. That's really good!"

"Thank you. That's what my mother always said..." Penelope pressured her brain to think of more things to say.  
"This reminds me of these things I made as a child called alien catch- I-... " She paused herself, disappointed that she didn't say boomerang instead. Chico immediately shot a look at her. His emerald eyes widened as he stared at hers. He almost looked excited to her, like he had Penelope's personality now.

"Aliens?" It almost sounded like he was going to say more, but quickly grew shy again. Penelope decided that hiding her hobbies were now pointless.

"I'm really weird. I love reading about aliens, ghosts, mysterious animals, and other things associated with...U-UMA's and other stuff like that." To hear 'UMA' come out of her mouth was something she thought she could never hear herself say ever again. Little did she realize was how much Chico was grinning,despite having destroyed mouth muscles.  

"Oh my that's- I'm just glad to know that someone else likes UMA's, too! I forgot how much I loved UMA's. I haven't touched that type of subject in a while... Forgive me if I talk about it too much, now." The change of tone in his voice was unusual. He acted a bit more nervous, but Penelope was just as thrilled as he was. To think that he was a nerd like her.

"Of course not! I love UMA's so much! I rarely get the opportunity to talk about them. I have so much to talk about. What are your favorite ones? AH WAIT!-" Penelope stopped walking and pulled out a tan colored book. Her motions began to quicken, but she tried not to seem too jumpy.

"I have a book all about UMA's! This one is an older copy, but I have a more awesome and updated version of it!" Chico placed a hand on his hip, admiring her reaction. His dark green eyes focused on her energetic expression.  She was like a cute child.  Something about her almost reminded him of himself when he was a naive little nerd. He could agree that he is still a nerd, but the past 9 years grew darker, making him more 'experienced'.  He wondered if she would react the same way he would if someone underestimated her.  Oh how much he used to hate that.  But he now had an excuse to act more like an adult because he already was.  But when it came to UMA's, he would love to sit down and read about them, no matter how much Amanda or some other adults would poke fun at him. 

"Would you like to sit down and show me some?" He sat down beside a tree, motioning her to sit next to her. And she was eager enough to sit beside him. She opened to a random page and chatted with him for hours about these legendary creatures from different countries. This went from the Hawkesbury River Monster in Australia, to aliens and dinosaurs. 

Both of these nerds grew to enjoy chatting with one another so much, that they almost didn't want to stop. Overtime, the rhythm of Penelope's heart began to slow down a bit. The way hear heart would beat began to actually feel good. She doubted that she grew sick. but the more she looked into Chico's eyes, the more she grew to find his features attractive. It was confusing to her, but the more that she thought about it, she realized that she had a crush on Chico.

As he proceeded to babble on, Penelope tried to push away these thoughts and other questions she had about him. But all of a suddenly, she blurted out what she wanted to say, guilty for interrupting him.

"Hey Chico, how old are you?"  
He was annoyed that he couldn't finish what he wanted to say, but he realized that maybe he should talk a bit more about himself than just these sort of things.

"Well... my birth date was January 10th, 1962... according to my parents. So currently... 20's, I know that. Sorry, I don't think about my age that much... I used to be good with math, but I never really went to an actual school."

'Almost 22 years old... almost 22- SHIT!' Penelope learned that she had to take things slow, and even though, she was almost 18 years old, Chico probably wouldn't want to date a girl with an age gap of 5 years.  But she wasn't going to lie about her age because he would find out eventually.

"I'm turning 18 in August...So I'm still 17." Penelope was still unprepared for her heart to get crushed if he hinted even a bit of rejection to her.

"I expected you to be younger. Not trying to underestimate you. I used to look very young, too."

Penelope couldn't tell if she should take that as a compliment or feel worse since ur didn't act disappointed. 

"Yeah. My mothers side of the family were under 6 feet... my dads really tall, but the women in his family are petite as hell."

"I remember my family feeling like giants from the last time that I had seen them. My sister said that I had a Malnori... I forgot what it was called... I guess I wasn't fed enough and it effected my height."

"Aww... poor thing..." Penelope examined him from head to toe. "You seem really tall, now." Thinking about it now, Penelope hasn't eaten anything in a while. She convinced herself that she eats too much anyway. 'One day without food wasn't really bad, right?' Penelope thought.

"What's Nicaragua like?" Chico's brow shifted a bit. 

"I haven't been there in a while... well before... FSLN and... In my village, my house had wood floors in some areas and a second floor. My dad was a bit more fortunate then the others... everyone else lacked floors. I didn't act much like a typical snotty rich kid, I used some effort to fit in with the other kids since we didn't have a school to stay in..." Penelope lay on her side, using her hand to keep her head up.   
"I was one of the very few children who were half white. My mama was from an Italian-Scottish family.  Me vejo was more Hispanic and supposedly a relative of one of the native tribes in the country. Even though I didn't eat much, I used to drink a lot of coffee and eat gallo pinto when my sister made it. Mama was strict at times. She tried to educate both me and Amanda like a 'school teacher.' She taught us basic things such as math, historical things, reading in both English and Spanish. Other stuff like that..."   
He chose to lay down as well. Adjusting himself until he was face to face with the Aussie.

"I remember the majority of my compas grew confused by my mixed vocabulary... How about you, Penelope. What's Australia like?"

"Well... my parents were very protective of me since I was an only child... so I didn't experience a lot of that 'wild animal' bull crap. But since we lived around forests, I got to hold Koalas. I love Koalas... I used to be really shy and... awkward. I still somehow made friends. There was this stuff that my dad used to have called Vegamite. Absolutely terrible. But I grew to love fairy bread... my room... room used to... to be decorated with fairy dolls... not sure why I brought that up. My dads family stayed in Australia longer than my mothers. Her mother was half British and married a German Nazi science dude. So she was sort of fluent in German..." Penelope's mind drifted to a variety of different ideas.

"Hey, Chico. What is your full name? If you don't mind me asking? Unless Chico was your first name." She looked into Chico's eyes. This felt very weird, even when he wasn't looking back at her. She admired the greenish colors in his eyes.

"Ricardo. Ricardo Valenciano Libre. How about you, Penelope?"

Ricardo. The name made Penelope's heart skip a beat. She never thought much of the English form of his name, 'Richard'.  But since it belonged to him, she now loved that name.  

"Penelope J. Ryan." 

'It's boring compared to yours, Ricardo.' Penelope wanted to add this, but she knew how obvious her feelings would become to him. Chico still thought, otherwise. The rest of her name was a bit more simple, but had a cute ring to it such as the name Penelope itself. 

"Penelope J. Ryan. I know this is strange to bring up, but the name suits you. Penelope. I grew to really like the name after you first told me." His eyes shifted to her. Penelope quickly looked away. Her blushing became more noticeable to him. The pain of having an empty stomach got to him. 

"Hey, when's the last time you ate?"

"Not since yesterday morning... do you have anything?"

"No, but I can get something for the both of us. Have you ever tried deer?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted this one to be a bit more Brief tbh. :0 still plz critique me

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, I love Chico. XD And he really should have appeared in MGSV and i get that swimming with bolts near his Achillies is impossible, but how the fuck did they find and rescue BB,Kaz and venom snake but yoooo what about the child? XD IDk entirley what happened but i have ideas on how he survived. they are still stupid af but im tryin yo!
> 
> aight anyways though, plz comment and don't be afraid to give me criticism. I don't bite. I love hearing peoples thoughts, ideas and suggestions. It really helps :3


End file.
